Dante's The Inferno (Potential Spoilers)

[IceM]

The first part of Dante's Divine Comedy, Dante narrates his experiences as he descends into Hell with Virgil as his guide. Similar to Richard Selzer's essay "Surgeon in Priest" in its remarkable ability to paint vivid images of their thoughts and surroundings yet remain succinct in description, Dante depicts harrowing scenes of Hell. While his forms of punishment for many may seem unorthodox (body filled with scabs to be scratched off and replaced for eternity, filled with jackets of lead, etc.) his descriptions are innovative and his images chilling. His descent into Hell reveals the eternal possibility in human redemption; for in his discovery of the layers of Hell (and similarly, the layers of sin and punishment), he seeks to redeem the human race by counteracting the same sins that plague Man. A literary masterpiece, moral re-evaluater and oracle of wisdom, Dante's Inferno will is well worth reading. It is applicable to any time period and provides the moral resurrection many could use.

Hope my review is worth something.

(P.S. Beware of bad translations. I used the Mandelbaum and thought it was sufficient).